"A lot people are probably waiting for the day that we have an incident on track and get into a fist-fight or something. But at the moment all I can say is there's no issues.

"I respect him as a competitor. Naturally, if I am competitive, I'm sure we're not going to be the closest mates because he's not going to like that and I'm not going to like getting my arse kicked if he's going to be doing that.

"We'll see. I don't expect it to get out of hand. It'll just be competitive and professional."

The Perth-born driver not only has to deal with the extra attention of being the sole Australian on the grid, but also the pressure of being in a team facing an uphill battle to retain their F1 domination.

"Testing can be a bit boring, so I'm just happy to go racing," Ricciardo said.